Fansplaining

In Episode 47, Flourish and Elizabeth interview Zan Romanoff, the author of the forthcoming novel Grace and the Fever, about a boyband fan who winds up in the band's inner circle. Topics covered include vintage Beatles fanfic, the Hanson brothers' tendency to marry fans, fans' search for the truth about celebrities' lives, and of course, a discussion about and critique the book. They also discuss a reader comment about Mary Sues and fandom ambivalence towards original characters.

In episode 46, "Defining Fanfiction: The Survey," Flourish and Elizabeth discuss Fansplaining's newest survey, which asks respondents to define what fanfiction is—and what it isn't. They discuss the genesis of the survey and the thinking behind its questions before launching into a wide-ranging discussion about intent, authorship, context, and more. They also tackle the survey's specific examples, from Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" to the Aeneid to "50 Shades of Grey" to the "Riker Googling" Twitter account, and Flourish coins the term "Schrödinger's fanfic."

Flourish and Elizabeth interview Teresa Nguyen, who went from novice seamstress to cosplay master in less than four years. Topics covered include screen-accuracy vs. interpretation, "professional cosplayers," and the experience of going to a con in costume. They also discuss the Fansplaining Definitions Survey and play a pair of voicemails from a listener who shares her experiences in North African fandom and some thoughts on the current state of Riverdale fandom discussion.

In Episode 44, "Mary Sue," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss Elizabeth's new article of the same name, about self-inserts and perspective characters in fanfiction and beyond. Topics covered include the history of the term "Mary Sue," its use in broader popular culture, imagines and second person fic, roleplaying, American Girl Dolls, and more. They also welcome fandom stats wizard DestinationToast back onto the podcast to break down her analysis of asexual and aromantic tags on the Archive of Our Own.

In Episode 43, "A Fangirl Goes to Hollywood," Elizabeth and Flourish talk with Britta Lundin, a longtime fangirl who's now a staff writer on the CW's new Archie Comics adaptation, Riverdale. Topics covered include her journey from fan to pro (including what it's like to be a fan *and* pro), working with your idols, the writer's room process, and fan/creator interaction, with special focus on two points of controversy on Riverdale: potential queerbaiting and asexual/aromantic erasure.

In Episode 42, "Fresh Out of Tokens," Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Tanya DePass, host of a podcast of the same name, founder of I Need Diverse Games, and author of a whole lot of Dragon Age fanfiction. They discuss gaming, fan/creator interaction, intersectionality, politics, and more. They also share a listener letter about game fandom and discuss the place of art in times of political crisis.

For their next episode, Flourish and Elizabeth wondered how to record a podcast while the world was on fire. So in episode 41, "Fandom Trumps Hate," they speak to Winter and Porcupine Girl, two of the organizers of the Fandom Trumps Hate fanworks auction, which raised more than $32,000 (!) for charities resisting the Trump agenda. They discuss the origins of the auction, how it worked, how it was received, and plans for the future. They also grapple with the role of fandom at large right now, and what individual fans can do.

In Episode 40, "Axanar [Lawsuit Intensifies]," Elizabeth and Flourish discuss Paramount v. Axanar with Rob Burnett, the director of the planned full-length Axanar fan film. The conversation, recorded days before the lawsuit was settled, covers what might happen with the lawsuit, the problems with crowdfunding a project, the pleasures of fan filmmaking, and whether there are or should be divisions between amateur and professional fan productions. Then they discuss some listener feedback from the last episode, on anime, Yuri!!! on Ice, and transcultural fandom.

In Episode 39, "Fansplaining!!! On Ice," Elizabeth and Flourish interview Lauren Orsini, a journalist and anime expert. Topics discussed include different generations of anime fandom in the United States, the way language barriers affect the transcultural conversation, depictions of gay men in anime, and—of course—Yuri!!! On Ice. They also take reader mail and discuss the term "beta reader" and the less-common "alpha reader" in fanfiction communities.

In Episode 38, "The Year in Fandom 2016," Elizabeth and Flourish (unsurprisingly) talk about the year in fandom! They start by recapping their 2015 list and seeing how those trends have played out in the past twelve months before diving into new trends from 2016. Topics covered include the high and low points of fan/creator interaction, potentially incorrect uses of the term "fanfiction," the impact of changing social media dynamics on our fandoms and lives, and Star Wars: Rogue One.

In this episode, Flourish calls England to talk to both Elizabeth and Emily Roach, an academic (from fandom!) who specializes in queer literature, particularly queer YA. They talk about queer representation—or the lack thereof—in objects of fandom, especially the gap between YA and other parts of the mainstream media landscape. They also touch on DestinationToast's stats about fanfiction production in the wake of the US presidential election, and ask for listener feedback on the direction of the podcast.

In Episode 36, "There's No Place Like Home," Elizabeth and Flourish reflect on the ways that reboots and never-ending sequels have changed the experience of being a fan alongside an extended (and hopefully successful!) metaphor about relationships with family over time. Topics covered include reconciling or moving on from problematic texts, the trajectories of some franchises versus others, and an extended segment about "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." (If you haven't seen the movie yet and intend to, spoiler alert!) Plus—register your surprise—continued discussion of the US Presidential Election.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Flourish discuss how different people use fandom to deal with trauma, grief and overwhelming feelings. ...Oh, who are we kidding? In this episode, Elizabeth and Flourish talk about the US Presidential election, how mad they are, how sad they are, how much they're not participating in fandom right now, and what they can do to change things. We'll get back to fandom soon. Maybe.

In Episode 34, Flourish and Elizabeth devote most of the hour to further discussion of the Fansplaining Fic Preferences Survey, where more than 7,500 readers weighed on 144 fanfic tropes and themes. They talk about the purpose of the survey, the choices they made while designing it, some conclusions about the results, and incorporate reader feedback, from long-form responses to a list of tropes the original survey overlooked. They also share a preview of a special episode for Patreon supporters, about the 1998 film "Primary Colors."

In Episode 33, Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Bob Proehl, the author of A Hundred Thousand Worlds, a novel about comics and cons that includes characters inspired by Gail Simone and Gillian Anderson. (!!!) They discuss "literary" vs genre fiction, gender dynamics in convention culture, and the fuzzy boundaries of RPF. In the second half, Elizabeth and Flourish discuss some initial results from the Fansplaining Fic Preferences Survey, in which more than 7,500 respondents weighed in on their favorite and least favorite fanfiction tropes.

In Episode 32, "Nerds for Her," Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Paul DeGeorge, half of Harry and the Potters and the creator of the #NerdsForHer, a campaign to get fandom excited about Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election. Topics discussed include the idea of "political fandom," Hillary's bad narrative, John Travolta and Emma Thompson in Primary Colors, and whether fanfiction can help foster enthusiasm for the only reasonable candidate. (Who is Hillary Clinton. Fansplaining endorses Hillary Clinton. Seriously.)

In episode 31, "Get Recced," Flourish and Elizabeth are joined by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, a fan culture journalist who co-curates "The Rec Center," a weekly fandom newsletter, with Elizabeth. They discuss recommendation versus criticism, what makes a good fic (to read and to rec), the antipathy to critique in many corners of the fanfic world, and some of their favorite—and least favorite—tropes. They also respond to listener mail: comments about fanfic's emotional payoff, "slashtivism" in the context of wider online discourse, and whether fandom fetishizes homosexuality. Cover art by Maia Kobabe.

In episode 30, "Games and Fandom," Elizabeth and Flourish interview Evan Narcisse, a journalist who covers both comics and video games. They compare gamers and media fans, think about the way that gatekeeping functions in different nerdy subcultures, and consider strategies for critiquing media texts. They also read more listener mail about fanart, and go deep on the Sims. Elizabeth does not promise to play any new video games, much to Flourish's chagrin.

In episode 29, "Shipping and Activism," Flourish and Elizabeth talk to fan studies scholars Rukmini Pande and Dr. Lori Morimoto about what happens when peoples' ships become emblems of political positions. The conversation covers the history of shipping-as-politics, the changing nature of the fan/creator divide, and the intersections of race and queerness. They also discuss a listener's response to episode 27, "Fanart Insights," and debate the monetization of fanworks.

In Episode 28, "Happy Anniversary #1," we welcome the past year's guests back on the podcast to talk about what's changed in fandom since Fansplaining began. Answers cover news items like what fandoms have emerged, which have cratered, and what's been going on in the law, but they also touch on the ways that fandom is increasingly breaking the fourth wall, the concept of "fan entitlement," and the changing ways that fandom thinks about race, nationality, and representation. Plus, we make like NPR and encourage people to donate to the Fansplaining Patreon, pledge-drive style!

In Episode 27, Flourish and Elizabeth talk to Leslie Combemale, proprietor of the Art Insights Film Art Gallery, about the role of artists in the entertainment industry (animation cels, movie posters, concept art...) and how fanart intersects with it. They discuss licensing, fanart contests, and limited-print runs, and they try and put their finger on what, exactly, makes fanart transformative.

In Episode 26, "Consplaining," Flourish and Elizabeth break down fan conventions. Elizabeth, who has only recently (grudgingly) started going to cons, is fresh out of Leviosa, a small, fan-run Harry Potter con, and both she and Flourish are getting ready to attend the big mama, San Diego Comic-Con. They discuss the differences between cons large and small, how things change when you physically meet the internet, issues of race, class, gender, and accessibility in a variety of con spaces, and the joys of encountering exactly your kind of nerd.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Sarah Jeong, a lawyer and journalist who is currently a contributing editor at VICE Motherboard, about Paramount and CBS's lawsuit against the Star Trek fan film "Axanar." They also cover the new fan film guidelines have been issued in the wake of the lawsuit, and return to the question of whether "affirmative," "curatorial," and "transformative" are good categories to use when discussing fandom.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Kevin Fanning, author of "Kim Kardashian: Trapped In Her Own Game," about RPF, the fourth wall, Wattpad, and branded content. Then they answer reader mail with more discussion about RPF and the fourth wall—and try to figure out whether fandom really is "broken." Interstitial music from Nicolai Heidlas Music on Soundcloud!

In episode 23, Flourish and Elizabeth take on the fourth wall—not the metaphorical wall between the audience and the actors on a stage, but the one erected BY fans to separate them (and their fanworks) from creators. After a crash course on the history of the fannish fourth wall, they discuss famous fan/creator clashes, from the Phelps twins confronted with Weasleycest to Benedict Cumberbatch writing het fanfic about Sherlock. And they consider whether any creator can cross the fourth wall successfully—and whether, in the age of social media, there's any way the fourth wall *won't* get broken.

In the second and final installment of our "Race and Fandom" episodes, fans of color continue to speak about their experiences in fandom. Elizabeth and Flourish interview Jeffrey Lyles and Zina, then hear clips from Roz, Traci-Anne, and zvi LikesTV. Topics covered include being Black and Jewish, Star Wars weddings, cosplaying characters of color, and why kink is never divorced from the real world.

In this episode, Flourish and Elizabeth follow up on the last episode's questions about the impact of racism in the Star Wars fandom—and how it's a microcosm of fandom at large. They interview Rukmini Pande and Clio, and they hear clips from Holly Quinn, Shadowkeeper, and PJ Punla. Topics covered include the historical presence of fans of color, space nazis, femslash and its discontents, and the Filipino perspective on the whiteness of media.

In Episode 21, "Trash Ships and Fandom IRL," Flourish and Elizabeth split the episode between two different topics. First they talk to Fansplaining regular DestinationToast about her recent Star Wars shipping statistical analysis (during which Flourish declares herself Captain Of The Garbage Scow). Then they talk to Alexa Donne of Leviosa about the task of running a fan convention, including the importance of accountants, market realities, and how much the Harry Potter community loves to drink.

In Episode 20, "Inside Baseball," Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Cecilia Tan, who took her partner to a Yankees game in 1999 and ended up with the first baseball fan blog online—and eventually, a professional baseball writing career. Cecilia talks about her many fannish hats, from her erotic romance press to Harry Potter fanfic to the Menudo newsletter she mailed to hundreds of fangirls to nearly fainting in the presence of Derek Jeter. Plus Elizabeth and Flourish grapple over whether it's possible to culturally appropriate fandom.

In Episode 19, "Cataloging Fandom," Elizabeth and Flourish talk to Ludi Price, a librarian and PhD student in information science whose research focuses on how fans collect, tag, share, and otherwise interact with information (e.g., fanart, fanfic, fanvids, facts about their fandoms, etc.). Then they read and discuss two listener comments. Topics covered include crowdsourcing, Jeremy Bentham, why Amazon.com's search and tagging system sucks so much, yaoi/yuri and shounen ai/shoujo ai, and ageism in fandom. Ludi adds: "I just thought of an addendum I'd like to add to this episode if that's OK. Just if there are any listeners out there who'd like to explore fandom through Library & Information Science, we'd be really interested to discuss it with you at the library school where I do my research. That's City LIS, which you can find on Twitter using our hashtag #CityLIS, or you can go to our blog which is at, I think it's at blogs.city.ac.uk/citylis. We're all, especially my supervisor Liv Robinson who's really into this stuff, we'd love to hear from anyone who's interested in weird or unusual kinds of documentation such as how you'd record live performance or an installation piece in a museum or whatever, or for example video game experiences. I'm also interested in the information behavior of people like comics collectors, artists, fanfic writers. So if you're intrigued, come and check us out at City LIS, and we'll be more than happy to discuss all your ideas, thoughts, opinions, whatever. Thanks!" You can reach Ludi at @ludi-ling on Tumblr​, @ludiprice on Twitter, at https://blogs.city.ac.uk/ludiprice/, or as ludi-price on DeviantArt.

This episode of Fansplaining is a little different: due to a technical problem, we weren't able to use our guest's audio, so we posted a transcript of the whole conversation, and the episode is a conversation ABOUT the conversation. For episode 18, Flourish and Elizabeth talked to Clay Liford, the director of SLASH: The Movie, a film about teen sexuality and fanfiction. Slash recently premiered at SXSW to positive critical reviews—and a good deal of controversy within fandom. Topics covered include the controversy and its criticisms, reverence versus accuracy, and the trouble with media that has to represent a whole subculture. Plus Flourish promises to write Elizabeth a story called "Panty Raid at Slytherin House."

In our first SPECIAL DOUBLE EPISODE, "The Powers That Be," Elizabeth grills Flourish on how the sausage gets made. Topics covered include how a TV show gets picked up for pilot, how a pilot turns into a series, how casting decisions are made, whether network executives really ruin everything, and a whole bevy of listener questions about the entertainment industry! Plus get ready for your new favorite ship, Alex/George on "Supernatural With Vampires."

In Episode 16, Flourish and Elizabeth welcome back statistician destinationtoast for her first segment as a regular contributor! They take a quantitative look at some linguistic issues from last time and discuss the peculiarities of RPF. Next, they're joined by Owen G. Parry, a visual and performance artist who created Larry!Monument, a piece inspired by One Direction fandom. Topics covered include discovering transformative fandom communities, art as fanfiction prompt, the relationship between slash and queer culture, and shipping diagrams.

In Episode 15, ~fanspeak, Elizabeth and Flourish interview Gretchen McCulloch, a linguist who studies the way people speak online. Topics covered include Cabin Pressure, the use of the tilde, ship and fandom names as linguistic markers, and why linguists are so incredibly chill about everything! Plus she answers some listener questions—and throws a few unanswered ones back out to the audience.

After the deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman, Elizabeth and Flourish take some time to reflect on the way fandom mourns their idols. Featuring Casey Fiesler (professor of Information Science at CU Boulder) on the parallels between online and physical memorials, Kathleen Smith (the Fangirl Therapist) on healthy ways to cope, and a meditation on the eventual death of Paul Giamatti.

In Episode 13 of Fansplaining, Elizabeth and Flourish interview Destinationtoast about her world-famous fandom statistical analyses. Topics covered include "2015: A (statistical) year in fandom," bad math, the differences between major fanfic archives, and trends on the rise in the coming year—plus, Elizabeth gets trolled.

In Episode 12 of Fansplaining, Elizabeth and Flourish count down their five top media fandom stories of 2015—and ask you to share your own. They also share personal fandom stories from 2015, and make a New Year's resolution for the podcast next year. Topics covered include the Triple Crown, Ham4Ham, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (with only the very lightest of spoilers!), and the fact that you heard about Hermione's casting in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" here first.

In Episode 11 of Fansplaining, "Muggles v No-Maj," Elizabeth (while in England) interviews Caroline Crampton and Anna Leszkiewicz of SRSLY, the New Statesman's pop culture podcast; Flourish, back in New York, adds her responses. Topics covered include what the job of a magazine editor really entails, the difficulties of being a fan and a journalist, Britpicking, whether Tumblr is an American space, and how time zones affect our fannish experiences.

In Episode 10 of Fansplaining, Fangirling Through Time, Elizabeth & Flourish interview Evan Hayles Gledhill about the Tumblr of the Victorian era, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and other depictions of fans in media, Walt Whitman's reaction to his gushy fanmail (and other topics covered by historicalsquee), and the enduring patriarchal effort to police women's reading and writing. In addition, we read listener stories about how fanfic has helped at difficult times in people's lives.

In this episode, we interview Jackson Bird, communications director of the Harry Potter Alliance and waffle aficionado. Topics covered include the changing definition of "fan activism," coming out as trans on YouTube, Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Lili Elbe, and whether—if you had to choose just one—you would pick waffles or Harry Potter.

In this episode, we answer the question "What is fandom?" Topics covered include whether "fandom" implies "community," the Buffalo Bills' sad-sack Superbowl record, whether transformative works are really central to fandom as we think of it, and rock fans... not rock n' roll, geodes.

In this episode, we interview Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, faculty at the Penn Graduate School of Education (and longtime fangirl). Topics covered include Anne of Green Gables, suspension of disbelief, RaceFail, and the catharsis of Gossip Girl fanfiction. We also discuss Rainbow Rowell's CARRY ON and Stephenie Meyer's LIFE AND DEATH.

In this episode, we interview Amanda Brennan, AKA the Meme Librarian. Topics covered include candle fandom, archiving the internet, why people tag their Tumblr posts with whole long sentences, and tweenage Hanson fanfic. We also respond to a listener comment from Elsa, who has some concerns with the way we've been talking about the interactions between fans and major media companies.

In this episode, we interview Jules Wilkinson, admin of Supernatural Wiki. Topics covered include intentional community building, creators using fan-made resources, Your Fave Is Problematic, squickfic, and tentacles. Lots of tentacles.

In this episode, we interview Betsy Rosenblatt and Heidi Tandy, two genuine fandom legal eagles. Topics covered include listener responses to the Wattpad episode, the purpose and projects of the Organization for Transformative Works, plagiarism vs. copyright infringement, and #FanworksAreFairUse. Cover image courtesy Jonathunder, from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CourtGavel.JPG

In this episode, we interview Aron Levitz and Samantha Pennington of Wattpad, and try to answer the question: what IS the deal with that platform?! Topics covered include noobs, the fan-to-pro pipeline, whether it's weird to read fanfic on your phone, and Flourish's newfound love of One Direction.

In this episode, Elizabeth visits GeekyCon and sees the Harry Potter theme park for the first time; Elizabeth & Flourish field a listener question from Tahariels; and we have a conversation with Meredith Levine, intrepid fanthropologist. Topics covered include LeakyCat, finding community in fandom, stars reading fanfic, and the intersections between fandom, consumerism, and commerce.

In the first episode of Fansplaining, Elizabeth Minkel and Flourish Klink introduce themselves and discuss their panel at SDCC, "Fandom Is My Fandom: Or, We All Live in a Coffeeshop AU." Topics covered include "going pro," selling out, making money in fandom, fandom as a safe space, and whether we should use the term "fandom" or "fandomS."